Physical activity is an important aspect of maintaining good overall health. Low levels of activity, including high levels of sedentary behaviour are a risk factor for a range of health conditions, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes and osteoporosis, as well as being a strong contributor to levels of obesity.

more time outdoors than non-Indigenous children of the same age (3.5 hours compared to 2.8 hours)

an average of one and a half hours (1.5 hours) on sedentary screen-based activities such as watching TV, DVDs or playing electronic games.

For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children aged 5-17 years in non-remote areas, the results showed that:

an average of two hours per day was spent on physical activity, 25 minutes more than non-Indigenous children of the same age and well above the recommended one hour per day

almost one in two met the physical activity recommendation compared with only one in three for non-Indigenous children (48% compared to 35%)

the most common physical activity was active play and children’s games (57%), followed by swimming (18%)

an average of 2.6 hours was spent on sedentary screen-based activities per day, above the recommended limit of two hours

young people aged 15-17 years spent more time than children aged 5-8 years on screen-based activities (3.3 hours compared with 1.9 hours)

at age 12-14 years, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children spent half the time non-Indigenous children did on using the internet or computer for homework (4 minutes compared to 8 minutes per day) and nearly one third of the time by age 15-17 years (8 minutes compared to 20 minutes per day)

those who participated in the pedometer study recorded an average of 9,593 steps per day, with one in four children (25%) meeting the 12,000 steps threshold per day (on average).

Adults in non-remote areas

In 2012-13, results for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults aged 18 years and over in non-remote areas showed:

adults spent around one third the time on physical activity compared with children aged 5-17 years at 39 minutes per day, of which 21 minutes was on walking for transport

four in ten (38%) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults were sufficiently active for health,doing at least 150 minutes of physical activity in five or more sessions over a seven day period

an average of 5.3 hours per day was spent on sedentary behaviour, including 2.3 hours of watching television, DVDs and videos

those who participated in the pedometer study recorded an average of 6,963 steps per day, with one in six (17%) meeting the recommended threshold of 10,000 steps or more.

When compared with the non-Indigenous adult population (and after adjusting for age differences), Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults:

were less likely to be sufficiently active for health (rate ratio 0.8)

were less likely to be participating in any physical activity (rate ratio 0.9)